we're in the fourth quarter as we approach the fiscal cliff. if we can deliver like rg iii delivers, we'll be doing well. the question i would ask is why the hell are we in the fourth quarter? why wasn't this done in the first quarter? >> well, piers, as you know, there were a number of efforts before the election to get this done and there were major differences between the parties, and those parties became a big part of the conversation during the presidential debate. the president could not have been clearer that he wanted to do two things. he wanted to boost economic growth by doing things like investing in our infrastructure which used to be a bipartisan idea, but also, extending middle class tax cuts and as you said, asking the wealthiest to pay a little bit more to reduce the deficit. that was part of the conversation. so we would hope that the election would break a little bit of this logjam. obviously that hasn't happened yet. the president's put his plan on the table. i'm still very hopeful, piers, that we'll get there. i agree with y